Things are complicated for former President Donald Trump on his judicial fronts.
Waiting for the Manhattan prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, to decide whether to file charges against him for an irregular payment to a porn actress, in Washington the courts have taken a step this Wednesday that brings the possibility of another charge a little closer.
This, in the case that the tycoon is followed for his handling of classified documents.
An appeals court for the federal circuit in Washington has ruled that Trump lawyers Evan Corcoran and Jennifer Little must testify before a grand jury and provide documents related to their client.
With this decision, the court has agreed with the special prosecutor investigating the case, Jack Smith, and has ruled out the arguments of the former president's representatives, who asked that the lawyer not be forced to testify.
Corcoran could appear before the grand jury this Friday, according to the CNN television network.
The case concerns the thousands of classified documents, related to the Trump presidency, that the former president kept in his possession once his term ended.
US laws oblige presidents to preserve the official documents they handle in the exercise of their office, and to hand them over to the National Archives for preservation once they leave office.
Trump, on the other hand, was left with a good amount of official papers, including hundreds with the seal declaring them classified.
Last year, his lawyers voluntarily delivered a dozen boxes to the National Archives on his behalf, including some 200 confidential documents.
In May, prosecutors issued an official order to return any classified material that might still be in the former president's possession.
In June, Corcoran turned over to Justice another set of official papers and a formal statement that no other improper material had been found after a search of Trump's Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.
But in August, FBI agents authorized by a court order searched Mar-a-Lago.
32 boxes of documents were taken.
The investigation carried out by special counsel Jack Smith on behalf of the Department of Justice tries to determine if Trump knowingly kept those boxes, and if the former president or people related to him obstructed Justice by not obeying the requirements.
Smith had requested that Corcoran hand over a series of documents regarding how the former president had handled the confidential material found in his possession and that he testify before the grand jury examining the case.
US laws protect the confidentiality between a lawyer and his client, but provide an exception in the event that there are suspicions that this relationship may be used for criminal purposes.
Last Friday, Washington District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that Corcoran should testify a second time before the grand jury.
On the first occasion, the lawyer had accepted the principle of confidentiality to refuse to answer several of the questions that the prosecutors asked him.
This time, Ella Howell considered that the prosecutors had shown that there was sufficient evidence to overturn that principle.
According to the ABC television network, the first to report these events, the judge considers that Trump knowingly concealed from his lawyer that he kept more confidential material.
Trump's lawyers appealed, in a difficult few days for the former president.
This weekend, the president had announced on social networks that on Tuesday he would be charged and detained in the case that is being followed by Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg for the payment of $ 130,000 that the former personal lawyer and factotum of
the
magnate , Michael Cohen, had made the porn film actress Stormy Daniels to buy her silence in 2016, in the middle of the presidential campaign.
It is yet to be known if, finally, charges against him will be filed on that judicial front and the former tenant of the White House will become the first ex-president charged in the history of the country.
From there, everything has unfolded with unprecedented speed in Washington and in the federal courts.
On Tuesday, a three-judge appeals court in the US capital ordered the parties - the special counsel and Trump's lawyers - to present their arguments within hours.
The term expired this Tuesday at six in the morning, local time.
they complied.
The former president's legal representatives delivered their arguments in a 6,455-word file.
But on Wednesday afternoon, the appeals court issued its decision: It did not accept the arguments of Trump's lawyers.
Therefore, those of the Justice Department prosecutors were maintained.
The principle of confidentiality was canceled: Corcoran and Little had to testify and present their documents, including recordings, before the grand jury.
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